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SHORTHAND 
CONSTRUCTION 



BY 



WILLIAM W. BELLAMY 



BOSTON, MASS. 

PRINTED BY THE SPARRELL PRINT 

1910 



COPYRIGHT, 1910 
BY WILLIAM W. BELLAMY 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



©CU275768 



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5 3 



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•4 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 



The English language is spoken at the rate of 130 words 
a minute, on the average. 

The rate of writing the English language in ordinary 
long-hand script is about 25 words a minute. 

To record the English language at the rate of speaking 
it is necessary to use characters which are a great deal shorter 
and can be written much quicker than the ordinary long-hand 
letters - — to use shorthand or stenographic characters in place 
of long-hand letters, and it is necessary to use these short- 
hand characters according to some system because words 
must be represented by graphic outlines six or more times 
as short and quickly written as is possible with long-hand 
letters. 

The word Stenography may be defined as "the art of 
writing in an abbreviated manner, as by the use of contracted 
or arbitrary symbols. " 

Phonography is "the art of recording words according to 
their sound; especially, the art of representing words by 
means of a system of sound-elements that reduces their 
graphic reproduction to the simplest form." 

The word Shorthand may be defined as "a system of 
hand-writing by characters which are shorter and quicker 
to write than the long-hand letters/' 

As ordinarily used the three words, stenography, phono- 
graphy and shorthand, have the same meaning — "the art 
or science of recording words according to their sound by 
means of characters which reduce their graphic outlines to 
the simplest form, to the minimum. " 

The object of a system of shorthand should be to afford 
a means by which words may be recorded as fast as spoken. 

What are the sounds of the language which go to make 
up words ? 



2 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

What are the minimum shorthand characters that can 
be used to represent these sounds ? 

Obviously, if outlines of words in shorthand are to be 
reduced to the minimum, they must be composed of the 
following characters: straight lines and curved lines (arcs 
of circles) of different lengths written in different directions, 
circles, semicircles and loops, of different sizes. 

In shorthand we speak of characters, not letters. A 
character is a mark or sign that distinguishes something. 

The straight line, the curved line and the circle are, of 
course, the shortest marks that can be used as characters 
to distinguish sounds. 

All systems of shorthand in use at the present time are 
phonetic — that is, they represent words as they are pro- 
nounced and not as they are spelled. For example, the 
word cough is written by the characters for the sounds of 
k, a as in fall, and f . 

There are a certain number of elementary sounds and 
there are a certain number of stenographic characters that 
can be used. 

Before enumerating the sounds of the language we will 
show the characters of the stenographic alphabet. The 
stenographic characters are derived from the following 
geometrical figures : 



e 








These are the shortest and most quickly written signs possible 
and are used, more or less, in all systems of shorthand. 

All systems of shorthand differ, some slightly, others 
materially, in the number and variety of the above char- 
acters used and in the meanings accorded to the characters 
— the sounds which they represent. 

From these geometrical figures the Bellamy System derives 
the following characters: 

There are five straight lines and ten curved lines. Each 
straight line is written in three different lengths, making fifteen 
straight lines, and each of these fifteen straight lines is also 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 3 

written shaded, heavy, making thirty characters which are 
straight lines. Each one of the ten curved lines is written in 
three different lengths, making thirty curved lines, and each 
of these thirty curved lines is also written shaded, making sixty 
characters which are curved lines; adding to these the thirty 
straight lines, there are ninety characters, called strokes; then 

there are the following: . o o O. © c^un Cs <© , making 
over 100 characters comprising the alphabet of the Bellamy 
System. All these characters are practical and can be dis- 
tinguished; they are all made use of, each one (except two) 
representing a different sound. Thus there are over 100 
sounds represented by the characters of the alphabet. The 
object is to utilize as many stenographic characters as possible 
for separate sounds, so that the maximum number of sounds 
may be represented by single characters — one stroke of 
the pen. That means speed, for the fewer characters that 
are required to represent sounds — to form outlines of words, 
the faster will words be written, because their representation 
is reduced. 

The question may arise, Why do you have 100 steno- 
graphic characters when there are only 26 letters in the 
English alphabet ? In shorthand words are written according 
to their sound. In English there are more than 26 sounds. 
Every vowel has both a short and a long sound. There are 
in all 16 vowel sounds; among the consonants the sound 
of c (soft) in city is the same as s, and the sound of c (hard) 
in cap is the same as k; x is a combination of the sounds 
of k and s; q which is always followed by u is a combination 
of k and w; but characters must be provided for the sounds 
of sh, zh, ch, th (two sounds), and ng. These are not 
combinations of the sounds of s and h, c and h, t and h, 
or n and g. There are 24 consonant sounds and 16 vowel 
sounds, making 40 sounds. The vowel sounds are a as in 
cap, a as in calm, a as in fall, a as in cape, e as in fed, e 
as in feed, e as in her, i as in fit, i as in fight, o as in rod, 
o as in rode, 00 as in book, 00 as in poor, u as in cut, oi 
as in toil, ou as in foul; the sound of u as in pure is the 
combination of the sounds of y and 00 as in poor. There 
are forty separate sounds in English, and as in stenography 
we write by sound, we should have forty characters, one for 



4 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

each sound, or at least a method of distinguishing each one 
of the forty sounds, if necessary. 

But why do you have one hundred characters when there 
are only forty sounds? We should not limit the shorthand 
alphabet to forty characters when there are more characters 
which can be readily used. Hence we represent not only 
the forty elementary sounds of the language by characters 
but also many combinations of sounds by single characters, 
light and shaded. We use characters of three different 
lengths and all the characters are also written shaded. The 
shortest length, called a half-length character, represents 
the combination of the sound of d with another consonant; 
for example, in writing the word seem we write the character 
for in, but in the word seemed we use the half-length (one 
character) for the combined sound md. We use shaded 
characters to represent combinations of the sound of r with 
consonants or combinations of the sound of s with consonants, 

etc. The character / represents k when written light 
and when shaded represents kr (cr). By utilizing every 
character, each for a different meaning, many sounds and 
combinations of sounds are written in one stroke of the pen 
which require more than one stroke of the pen in other 
shorthand systems. 

We will show that it is an advantage to use all possible 
characters including the shaded ones. What is meant by 
the term " shading" ? By shading is meant the writing of 
a character heavy or thick to represent a different sound 
from that represented by the character written light, as ordi- 
narily made. Shading is done by bearing on with the pencil 
or pen. Some shorthand systems do not use shading, and 
in them a character means the same whether written light 
or shaded. These systems are called "light-line" systems. 
Is shading an advantage or disadvantage to speed and legibil- 
ity? That is to say, is it well to write a character light for 
one meaning and heavy for another meaning? If the shaded 
characters represented the same sounds as the light char- 
acters, it would be useless to shade and there would be a 
loss in speed caused by bearing on. But we use shaded 
characters to represent different sounds from those repre- 
sented by the corresponding light characters. If a system 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 5 

of shorthand uses shaded strokes to represent combinations 
of two (or more) sounds as the Bellamy System does, and 
combinations of two or more sounds are written in one 
shaded stroke, and if a system of shorthand uses only light 
strokes, as the light-line systems do, one light stroke for 
each sound in a combination of sounds, then the stenographer 
writing the shaded system is writing in one shaded stroke 
what the stenographer writing the light-line system must 
write in two or even more light strokes. It may take longer 
— it does take a little longer — to write a shaded stroke 
than it does to write a light stroke, owing to the bearing on, 
but it does not take longer to write a shaded stroke than it 

does to write two light strokes. To illustrate : pis written I , 

r is written ^ , but pr is not written U^ , but instead in 

one shaded stroke f ; the word praise is written in the 
Bellamy System by the three characters pr (shaded), a and 
z, in the light-line systems praise is written by the four 
characters p, r, a and z; the word bribed is written in the 
Bellamy System by the three characters br (shaded), i and 
bd (shaded), the word bribed is written in the light-line 
systems by the five characters b, r, i, b and d; the word 
smiled is written in the Bellamy System by the three char- 
acters sm (shaded), i and Id, smiled is written in the light- 
line systems by the five characters s, m, i, 1 and d. For 
almost every combination of sounds — and there are a good 
many of them — which is written in one shaded stroke in 
the Bellamy System, two or more light strokes must be 
employed in the light-line systems. In the words praise, 
bribed and smiled, and in every word where a combination 
of sounds written in one shaded stroke occurs, the writer 
of the Bellamy System gains on the writer of a light-line 
system by having one (sometimes two or even three) less 
stroke to write and loses the time required to bear on enough 
to shade, — which latter can be practically disregarded. 
Therefore by the use of shaded characters a greater number 
of sounds can be recorded in single strokes of the pen, and 
outlines of words are therefore reduced to shorter forms. 
All systems that do not employ shading lack a valuable 



6 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

feature for obtaining speed. Of course, a writer must shade 
enough to distinguish a shaded stroke from a light stroke 
or illegibility will result and he must also refrain from shading 
the light strokes or they will be apt to be mistaken for the 
shaded strokes, but that can be readily done. 

It must be apparent that the system that employs 
shading has twice as many characters as the system that 
does not employ shading, or at least as many more as are 
shaded, thereby having a more complete alphabet. The 
light-line systems do not even make use of all the possible 
light strokes; one light-line system excludes characters that 
are not written on the slope of the hand. In the Bellamy 
System all practical characters in all lengths are used, both 
light and shaded. 

In estimating the value of a shorthand alphabet we must 
know not only how many characters are used but also how 
many and what sounds are represented by the characters. 
For example, in one system all the characters may be used, 
each one representing a different sound, in another system 
all the characters may be used but not every one for a different 
sound, two or more characters may in many cases represent 
the same sound — that is, a number of sounds may be 
represented by more than one character — in more than one 
way, thereby reducing the total number of sounds represented 
by the characters of the alphabet. The alphabet is thereby 
weakened, made less efficient for recording words, because 
in shorthand we should have as many sounds as possible 
represented by single characters (one stroke of the pen) and 
we should have a good selection of sounds, we should have 
those sounds that occur most frequently written in the 
quickest way so that the quickest single strokes are written 
most frequently. In the Bellamy System only two sounds, 
h and y, are written in more than one way. In some systems 
there are two, three and sometimes four ways of writing 
many of the common sounds. 

In comparing the stenographic alphabets of two systems 
we could take the characters as shown in the geometrical 
figures on page 2 and find out how many of these characters 
are used and what sounds they represent, or conversely we 
could take the sounds of the English language and the 
commonest combinations of sounds and find out how these 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 7 

different sounds are written in a given system of shorthand. 
B is a commonly occurring sound, so is br, bl, bd (final as 
in bribed, robbed), c, cr, cl, kd (as in tacked), ch, w, sw, 
qu=kw, squ = skw, etc. If we should take the commonest 
sounds and combinations of sounds of the language and find 
that a greater number of such sounds are written in one stroke 
of the pen in one system than in another system, we should 
say that the system having the greater number of such sounds 
represented by single strokes is capable of greater speed 
as far as completeness of the stenographic alphabet goes. 

You may ask, " Isn't it a difficult task to learn as many 
as 100 characters ?" The object sought in learning short- 
hand is to obtain a means of recording words rapidly, and 
to do so it is necessary to have as brief outlines of words 
as possible, as we shall explain. The fewer characters there 
are in a shorthand alphabet, the quicker could they be 
learned, but you could not learn to write words fast if you 
had only a few characters to write shorthand with. The 
problem of learning the alphabet is not the difficult thing 
in shorthand, though the alphabet can be made hard to 
learn if there are many sounds written in more than one 
way, causing choice of methods of writing. A hundred 
characters are not too many to write shorthand with. In 
the Bellamy System the characters in most instances bear 
a relation to each other, as the shaded strokes to the light 
strokes and the half-length strokes to the single- and double- 
length strokes, and as they all (except two) represent different 
sounds, it is not a difficult task to learn how the different 
sounds are written and how to form outlines of words. 

We stated above that in order to record words rapidly 
the outlines of words must be as brief as possible. Why is 
it necessary to have brief outlines to record words fast? 
The average rate of speaking is about 130 words a minute 
and the rate may reach 200 words a minute or more. At 
the average rate of speaking the number of separate sounds, 
consonant and vowel, that are uttered exceeds 400 or 500 
a minute. Now it is not possible in any system of shorthand 
to make a mark or sign for each separate sound uttered in 
the English or in any other language. It is simply impossible 
to record every sound that is uttered. A writer cannot 
"take down" Chinese sound for sound at the rate of speaking 



8 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

and the same is true of English and every other language. 
A writer cannot write words in long-hand at the rate of 
speaking and the same is true in a system of shorthand that 
does not furnish sufficiently brief outlines. You may think 
that speed consists in rapid penmanship and in absence of 
hesitation, that, so long as you do not hesitate you can write 
fast enough in most any system of shorthand to keep pace 
with speaking, but that is not so. Hesitation detracts from 
the speed of every writer, but absence of hesitation does 
not enable the writer of the poor system to record words 
at the speed of speaking. 

If it is impossible to record words in shorthand sound 
for sound, how are verbatim reports made? A writer who 
aims to record speech verbatim must omit from the short- 
hand outlines enough to enable him to keep pace with the 
speaking but must not omit so much as to impair the legibility 
of his notes. The writer who has the best method of record- 
ing the sounds and combinations of sounds of the English 
language is better prepared to record speech verbatim, be- 
cause, writing a system which has a complete stenographic 
alphabet, he will not have to abbreviate his notes to such 
an extent to keep pace with the speaking that his notes will 
become illegible. 

No system of shorthand can record words at the rate of 
speaking without abbreviating. The advantages of a com- 
plete alphabet of characters affording brief outlines for words 
are: 1, the writer will be able to write faster without having 
to resort to abbreviating; 2, the writer will not have to abbre- 
viate to such an extent to keep pace with speaking as the 
writer who uses an incomplete alphabet; 3, it will be easier 
to learn to write fast because there will not be so many rules 
for abbreviating and contracting and so many exceptions to 
rule to learn to obtain the necessary brevity of outline. 

We have explained the advantage of having a complete 
alphabet of characters. With the best possible alphabet it 
is impossible to record every sound at the rate of speaking. 
In fact we must omit a great many of the sounds, but we 
must remember what is omitted. 

How T can shorthand outlines be abbreviated? We may 
leave out the vowels and write only the consonants, as in 
some systems; we may leave off the final syllable or syllables 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 9 

and write only the first syllable or only enough to recognize 
the word by; we may omit or abbreviate prefixes and suffixes; 
we may use single marks to represent the common words — 
and these marks which are called word-signs or logograms 
may be arbitrary — not written according to rule of sound; 
we may represent phrases by arbitrary stenographic signs 
or combinations of signs. Another expedient for obtaining 
speed, not abbreviating, is to join outlines of words without 
taking off the pen, called phrasing. 

The subject of abbreviating is a very comprehensive one. 
The individual writer can abbreviate as much as he cares 
to as long as he can read his notes correctly. The writer 
of a system which has brief outlines for words, will obtain 
a practical speed sooner and will not be obliged to use so 
many expedients for abbreviating, hence it will be easier 
for him to obtain a practical working speed. The problem 
is to abbreviate our notes as much as is necessary to obtain 
a practical amount of speed and still be able to read them — 
to abbreviate without causing illegibility. 

What expedients can be used to permit of abbreviating? 
We may abbreviate words by omitting the final syllable or 
syllables, writing only enough to enable us to recognize a 
word; we may use single marks or characters to represent 
common words (these marks are called word-signs); we may 
use single marks placed in different positions with relation 
to an outline or intersecting an outline at different points 
to represent certain sounds or syllables, as prefixes and 
suffixes; we may write outlines in special positions with 
relation to other outlines to denote different meanings; we 
may write outlines in special positions with relation to a 
ruled line of writing to represent different meanings. By 
using all these means of abbreviating we can record words 
faster because there is less to write. Another way to increase 
speed is to join outlines without lifting the pen (phrasing) . 

We will take up the expedient of position writing with 
relation to a ruled line. This is an important feature of 
shorthand writing utilized in some systems but not in others. 
Shorthand is almost always written in note-books having 
ruled lines. We may write outlines in three positions, above, 
on, and below or through the line. Writing in more than 
three positions is not practical. Is it an advantage to speed 



10 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

to write in three positions instead of in one ? Many writers 
contend that it retards speed to write in three positions and 
that it causes illegibility because an outline on the line stands 
for one thing, above the line for something else and below 
the line for something still different. We will show that by 
writing in three positions to express different meanings a 
gain in speed is effected. If we did not express a different 
meaning by writing above or below the line, it would be 
useless to do so and we would lose in speed owing to the 
extra movement of the hand. By omitting an initial vowel 
and placing the outline of the word above or below the line 
to indicate the omitted vowel, a gain in speed is effected 
equivalent to the time required to write the initial vowel 
and the loss in speed is only the time required to move the 
hand to write above or below the line, which is so slight 
it can be disregarded. We will show that this is so. If we 
write in one position only — on the line — the words pal, 
pall or Paul, pole, appall and opal would be written 

<c , , , , <r , but by writing all 

words beginning with the vowel o (long and short) above 
the line with the vowel omitted, the word opal is written 

and by writing all words beginning with the vowel 

a (short) below the line with the vowel omitted, the word 

appall is written ,~.L*^. . Which is quicker — to write in 
one position and write the words appall and opal ...&!—. 
and t -..!^7,. , or to write in three positions and write 

appall and opal _JL*£.~ and ........... ? Would writing 

above and below the line interfere with the next line 
of writing by extending too high or too low? In every 
system of shorthand outlines extend above and below the 
line unless only horizontal characters are used, and, of course, 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 11 

there are not enough horizontal characters to write short- 
hand with. The question is not so much, how close to the 
line the writing adheres, as how quickly are words written. 
If you omit a sound you have less to write and hence more time 
to recover the position of your hand to write the following 
word whatever position it is to be placed in. How much 
time would be lost in hesitating as to which position to write 
in? The rule is simple, all words beginning with o above 
the line, and all words beginning with a (short) below the 
line. A writer reading his notes seeing an outline above the 
line knows that that outline represents a word beginning 
with o, the vowel being omitted as expressed by the new line 
of writing; and again, an outline written below (or through) 
the line represents a word beginning with a (short), the 
position below the line indicating the omission of a (short) 
at the beginning of a word. Therefore it is plain that by 
omitting a sound and indicating the omission by writing 
above or below the line a gain in speed is effected by saving 
the time required to write the sound. The loss occasioned 
by moving the hand above or below the line is so slight that 
it can be entirely neglected. All systems of shorthand that 
are written in only one position lack a valuable expedient 
for obtaining speed. 

Besides writing above the line to indicate an initial vowel 
o and below the line to indicate a (short), other initial vowels 
may be omitted and their omission indicated by writing 
above or below the line provided there can be no doubt as 
to which vowel is the one omitted; otherwise write the word 
on the line in full, with the vowel written. 

In the Bellamy System outlines are placed above and below 
the line to indicate certain omitted vowels, but only w r hen 
the vowel begins the word, and all vowels following are 
written in the outline. Words beginning with consonants 
are written on the line. In some systems writing above and 
below the line is used to indicate one of a number of possible 
omitted vowels, and the omitted vowel may be anywhere 
in the word. Though a gain in speed is produced whenever 
a vowel is omitted, the system is more difficult to learn be- 
cause there must be many exceptions, and until you have 
learned the exceptions you will not be able to recognize 
many words without their vowels, as the position will not 



12 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

enable you to tell what vowel is omitted or where the omitted 
vowel is located — whether the word really begins with a 
vowel or not. 

In speaking of the various methods of obtaining speed 
by abbreviating we stated that we may use single marks 
to represent the common words of the language. A mark 
or sign used in shorthand to represent a word is termed a 
" word-sign' ' or " logogram" and a word which is repre- 
sented by a word-sign is termed a "sign-word." There are 
a number of words of very frequent occurrence such as the 
articles a, an, the, conjunctions and, but, etc.; prepositions 
in, on, of, for, to, etc.; pronouns I, you, they, this, that, 
etc.; the verbs to be, to have, to do, in their various tenses; 
the auxiliary verbs will, shall, should, could, etc. If we 
count all the words of a speech or writing, we will find that 
there are a hundred, or so, words that equal in number of 
times of occurrence all the other words of the language. 
For the sake of speed it is necessary to have these common 
words represented by short, quickly written marks or signs. 
If a stenographer should write these words out in full accord- 
ing to their sounds, he would find that he would have too 
much to write and that he would fall behind in speed beside 
a stenographer who uses single marks for these words. 
For instance, if you write three marks — one for each sound 
— for the words which, what, would, should, was, etc., 
or two marks, you would see that you had a good deal more 
to write than if you used only one mark for a word in each 
case. These words should be represented by the briefest 
marks, and in many instances the marks used may be arbi- 
trary, that is, not conforming to rule of sound. These words 
are so common that we may represent them by any sort of 
mark or sign we choose, though it is well to have them repre- 
sented by the character that represents their first or principal 
sound. In whatever ways we decide to represent these 
common words, when once learned, they are written so 
frequently that they are never forgotten, hence they may 
be made exceptions and written in the shortest manner. 

Now in a system of shorthand that makes use of shaded 
characters and writes in three positions there are more single 
marks available to use as word-signs to represent these words 
than there are in a system that makes use of only light 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 13 

characters and which is written on only one line of writing. In 
a system using shading, a short dash written light may 
represent one word and the same dash written shaded may 
represent another word, and the same dash or mark may be 
written on the line for one word, above the line for another 
word and below the line for still another word; so a single 
mark may be made to do service in representing a number 
of words and all these words would be written in one stroke 
of the pen, whereas in a system that is written only on the 
line and that has no shaded characters there would be fewer 
single characters and signs to use to represent these common 
sign-words, hence many of these common words could not 
be abbreviated to one character or represented by one mark, 
and hence a large number of common words could not be 
written as quickly as they are written in the Bellamy System 
in which these common words are all represented by signs 
written in one stroke of the pen. 

We next take up the feature of shorthand writing called 
Phrasing. Phrasing is the joining of two or more words 
in one continuous outline without lifting the pen. Instead 
of writing words separately we may join them and thereby 
save the time of taking off the pen. In deciding what words 
to phrase our object should be to try to conform to a rule 
as much as possible and join common words, words that 
occur together frequently, so that the possibility of forming 
a phrase may be readily perceived, the phrases readily learned, 
and through repetition become familiar and therefore written 
quickly. In the preceding paragraph in speaking of sign- 
words we stated that there are about one hundred words 
comprising the articles, prepositions, pronouns and common 
verbs that equal in times of occurrence all the other words 
of the language. That is, these one hundred words are 
written or spoken as many times as all the other words of 
the language are written or spoken. It would be very singu- 
lar if these words did not occur together frequently. In the 
phrases I shall not be a, I will not have the there are five 
common words occurring together. By having all these 
common words represented in the Bellamy System by short 
word-signs and by having these word-signs joinable in phrases 
in one invariable way with few exceptions, phrasing is made 
easy to learn and the speed is thereby increased considerably. 



14 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 



Below is a diagram showing the scheme by which words 
are phrased : 



I 

he 

she 

it 

we 

you 

they 

this 

that 

who 

which 

what 

one 

some 

there 



am 

is 

are 

was 

were 



will 

shall 

would 

should 

can 

could 

may 

might 

must 



have 

has 

had 



not 

ever 

never 



not 

ever 

never 



be 
do 
have 



KJ 



been 

had 

done 



not 

ever 

never 



been 

had 

done 



a, an 

the 

this 

that 

those 

what 

one 

some 

all 

any 

every 

no 

my 

her 

its 

your 

their 

him 

her 

it 

us 

you 

them 



Any word in one column may be joined to any word in a 
following column connected by the line. For example, 
we may write the phrase I will be a or substitute any word 
in the first column for I, as in the phrase he will be a, or 
substitute any word for will, as he should be a, or substitute 
any word for be, as he should have a, or substitute for a 
as in the phrase he should have one, there should never 
have been any, etc., etc. These words are the common 
words of the language and often occur together, hence their 
adaptability to phrasing. By having these words joined 
in phrases in one invariable way phrases are readily learned, 
quickly written and easily read. Those who have studied 
Latin will see the principle of the Latin verb I have loved, 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 15 

I shall have loved, you will have loved applied to the 
verbs to be, to do and to have. 

As we may abbreviate words and use special signs or 
outlines for words, so we may use special outlines for phrases, 
phrase-signs. We can join words in phrases as such or we 
can use special outlines or any combination of stenographic 
signs to mean a phrase. The extent to which words are 
phrased will be limited only by the experience and capacity 
of the writer for memorizing phrases. Thus one writer in 
one line of work, meeting words and phrases which he has 
occasion to write often, can join such words or improvise 
special phrases, which it would not pay a writer in a different 
line of work to memorize as he would not have occasion 
to write them often enough. There is the business phrase 
I am in receipt of your letter and the legal phrase state 
whether or not. These phrases may be called the special, 
code or secret phrases and can only be read by those ac- 
quainted with their meanings. Any combination of steno- 
graphic signs or outlines may be used to stand for these 
phrases. 

In the previous paragraph on the subject of abbreviating 
we spoke about abbreviating prefixes and suffixes. We may 
use special marks written in different positions with relation 
to an outline or intersecting an outline in different locations 
to represent prefixes and suffixes. For example, there are 
many words beginning with the prefixes con- and trans-, 
and many words end in the suffix -ness. These and many 
other prefixes and suffixes may be indicated by special marks 
written in special positions with relation to an outline. 

We stated that in order to record speech verbatim we must 
abbreviate many of the words, because at the rate of speak- 
ing it is impossible to write words out in full, making a mark 
for every sound uttered. A writer can record speech ver- 
batim because he can abbreviate and still know what he 
has written. The more words we write out in full, the slower 
will be the speed, and the more words we abbreviate, the 
faster can we write, provided we know how to read our notes. 
Every time we write a long word out in full, speed is slack- 
ened. Take such words as immediately, especially, simul- 
taneously, manufacture; if we write such long words out 
in full, indicating each sound, we will find that we have 



16 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

too much to write and that we cannot keep pace with the 
speaking. That is the reason technical matter is hard to 
write fast, because it is usually unfamiliar, and the writer 
must write it out in full in order to be able to read his notes 
correctly. Many long words can be abbreviated by omitting 
the final syllables, writing just enough to recognize the word 
by. We can use any abbreviation or contraction for a word 
that will not be mistaken for another word. For example, 
we can abbreviate the word immediately to the shorthand 
i-m-e, especially to sp, laboratory to lab, and in reading 
our notes we will remember what word the abbreviated 
shorthand stands for. By abbreviating there is less to write 
and a gain in speed is effected. The amount of abbreviating 
required to obtain a verbatim speed will vary with the system 
of shorthand. If a system of shorthand affords brief out- 
lines for words, it can be written faster, and not so much 
abbreviating will be required to record at the rate of speak- 
ing; but in the light-line, shadeless systems it is practically 
impossible even with the greatest amount of abbreviating 
to obtain sufficient brevity of outline that w T ords can be re- 
corded at the rate of speaking. The amount of abbreviating 
will vary among writers of the same system, thus the writer 
who has had experience, who is familiar with the words 
of the language, abbreviates words which are unfamiliar 
to a writer of less experience, and illegible if not written 
out entire. 

To sum up: shorthand is the art or science of recording 
words by means of characters that are shorter and quicker 
to write than long-hand letters. The object of writing short- 
hand is to record words (and sentences) as fast as they are 
spoken. To record words at the rate of speaking we must 
have shorthand representations (outlines) of words short 
enough to be written at the rate of speaking. How can we 
form outlines of words short enough to be written at the 
speed of speaking? 1, By writing words according to sound, 
and 2, by employing the shortest possible stenographic 
characters to represent sounds. There are a limited number 
of marks that can be used in shorthand as characters to 
represent sounds. The shortest characters that can be 
written are the straight line, curved line (arc of a circle), 
circle, semicircle and ellipse. Hence these marks in different 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 17 

lengths and written in different directions are used to 
represent sounds and, joined together, form outlines of words. 
We should use as many of these marks as possible and use 
them to the best advantage. We should have each character 
represent a different sound and have the commonest sounds 
represented by the characters which are quickest to write. 
The more characters we have to write shorthand with, the 
greater the total number of sounds that can be written in 
one stroke of the pen, and the more sounds we write in one 
stroke of the pen, the quicker can outlines of words be written. 
We should write the characters thick or shaded as well as 
light (as ordinarily made) and we should use the shaded 
characters for different sounds from those represented by 
the light characters, for by so doing we double the number 
of sounds written in single strokes of the pen. That increases 
speed because many combinations of sounds can be repre- 
sented by one shaded character which would require two 
or more light characters if only light characters were used. 
A shaded character is quicker to write than two light char- 
acters. 

By taking all possible stenographic characters and writing 
them both light and shaded we have the greatest number 
of characters to use to represent sounds. We should use 
them all, for if we don't, we miss an opportunity of writing 
a sound in one stroke of the pen; and we should use each 
character to represent a different sound, for if we have two 
or more characters representing one and the same sound, 
the total number of sounds represented by the shorthand 
alphabet is lessened. Another advantage in having every 
character represent a different sound is that there is then 
but one way of writing a sound, and hence the method of 
writing the sounds and forming outlines of words is more 
readily learned. 

With the most complete alphabet of stenographic char- 
acters and the best arrangement of the characters for forming 
outlines, it is impossible to write a mark or sign for every 
sound uttered at the speed at which words are spoken. A 
writer cannot record words at the rate of speaking unless 
he abbreviates, and to a considerable extent. If we aim to 
record words as fast as spoken we must omit many of their 
sounds, but we must not omit so much that we cannot tell 



18 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

what the shorthand means. The problem is to abbreviate 
as much as possible without causing the notes to become 
illegible and at the same time to make few rules for abbre- 
viating and few exceptions to rule, so that abbreviating can 
be readily learned. 

The faster we aim to write, the more words is it necessary 
to abbreviate. We can abbreviate as many words as we 
care to as long as we remember what the abbreviated short- 
hand stands for. To make abbreviating easy to learn we 
should have a rule or rules of abbreviating that can be applied 
to a great number of words and we should use as many 
expedients of shorthand writing as we can to indicate omitted 
sounds or omitted words. We can abbreviate words by 
omitting the final syllable or syllables; writing the first 
syllable or syllables entire will enable us to recognize what 
word the abbreviated shorthand stands for. In the case 
of similar words we can abbreviate one — the commonest — 
and write words beginning in the same way out in full or 
write enough to distinguish the word so that there will be 
no doubt as to what word is meant. The more frequently 
a word occurs, the greater the need of abbreviating that 
word, and the easier will it be to remember the abbreviated 
shorthand. Hence common words, especially long words, 
should be abbreviated. The commonest words of the lan- 
guage are the articles a, an and the, conjunctions, preposi- 
tions, pronouns, and the common verbs to be, to have 
and to do. These words are written so often that, for the 
sake of speed, they ought to be represented by the shortest, 
most quickly written shorthand signs. A word that is written 
so often ought, if it is abbreviated at all, to be abbreviated 
to the shortest possible shorthand sign, therefore we should 
make exceptions of these common words and use arbitrary, 
short signs to represent them. 

If there are any means or devices of writing shorthand 
which can be used to indicate omitted sounds or words, 
they ought to be used. As means of indicating abbreviating 
we can write outlines of words in special positions with 
relation to other outlines, as just above, or just below or 
close to the preceding outline. We can write marks and signs 
in different locations with relation to an outline, or to a single 
character of an outline, or intersecting an outline at different 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 19 

points — these marks to have different meanings according 
to the location in which they are placed. We can write 
outlines in special positions with relation to the ruled line 
of writing, as above and below (or through) the line. All 
these means can aid us to show abbreviating. If we can by 
the use of these methods and devices reduce the shorthand 
necessary to write without causing illegibility, then these 
methods and devices should be used to increase speed. 

Another device for increasing speed is the joining of out- 
lines without lifting the pen, called phrasing. Phrasing 
enables the writer to write faster by saving the time of taking 
off the pen. We should have a system of phrasing that can 
be applied to a number of words, words that occur together 
frequently, so that phrases can be readily learned and written. 

From the foregoing it is seen that to record words in short- 
hand rapidly we must make use of all stenographic char- 
acters and use them to the best advantage, and we must 
make use of all devices and methods to reduce the amount 
of shorthand necessary to represent words in graphic outline, 
and use these devices to the best advantage. 

The speed with which words can be recorded in shorthand 
depends on the brevity of the outlines of words. The shorter 
the outlines, the faster the speed. So we can say that the 
system that uses the greatest number of characters and to 
the best advantage, and uses the greatest number of ex- 
pedients affording the briefest, most quickly written outlines 
of words can, when learned, record words at the fastest 
speed, and that a system that is lacking in expedients for 
producing short outlines cannot record words at the average 
rate they are spoken. 

Shorthand systems are constructed differently; some vary 
slightly, others considerably, in the number of characters 
comprising the alphabet, and in the meanings accorded to 
the characters — the sounds they represent, and in the num- 
ber of expedients used, and in the extent to which the ex- 
pedients are used. Where two systems differ widely, it is 
an easy matter to find which is the faster, but where two 
systems are nearly alike, the problem of finding which is 
faster is difficult. Also the question of the time required to 
learn a system must be taken into account as well as the 
speed a system is capable of attaining. 



20 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

Before making any comparison of systems we will describe 
the methods used to represent the vowel sounds as they 
vary in different systems. In the Bellamy System the vowels 
are all represented by circles, semicircles and curved strokes 
which are written in the outline of the word (except when 
an initial vowel is omitted), joining the consonant characters 



in the order of sequence. Thus the word cap is written . 



f 



k-a-p. All systems in which the vowels join the consonants 
in the outline of the word are called Connecting- 
Vowel systems because the vowels connect the consonants. 
In a preceding paragraph in speaking of devices of writing 
shorthand we stated that we can write marks in different 
positions with relation to an outline or to a character of 
an outline to represent different sounds according to the 
location. In some systems, the Pitman systems especially, 
dots and dashes and other marks are placed in different 
locations, as before or after the middle, or the first third, 
or the last third of a consonant character to denote the 
different vowel sounds. Thus in the Pitman System the 



word cap is written A.-k-p, and then the dot to represent 

the vowel a (short) is placed after the first third of the char- 
acter for k. The consonant outline of the word is first 
written and then the vowel signs are written afterwards 
separate from the consonants, each one in its proper location. 
The systems that use this method of representing the 
vowel sounds are called Unconnecting- Vowel systems 
because the vowels are written disconnected from the con- 
sonants. 

Before discussing the relative merits of these two methods 
of writing vowels we will consider the connecting-vowel 
systems. 

The principal connecting- vowel systems are the Pernin 
System and the Gregg System. All the connecting-vowel 
systems in use to-day are either light-line systems (do not 
employ shading) or are written in one position only, on the 
line. Both the Gregg and the Pernin are light-line systems 
and are written only on the line. The Bellamy System is a 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 21 

connecting-vowel system and is the only connecting-vowel 
system that employs shading and writing in three positions. 
This statement can be verified by an examination of the 
various systems. The best article on the subject of short- 
hand that we have seen is in the International Encyclopedia 
published by Dodd, Mead & Co. 

We stated that by writing above or below the line to express 
an omitted sound we gained in speed by reducing the amount 
of shorthand, and that by writing the characters shaded 
to represent different sounds we gained in speed by reducing 
the shorthand representations of words, because we can 
write in one shaded character (one stroke of the pen) many 
sounds and combinations of sounds which would have to 
be written in more than one light character if only light 
characters were used, and a shaded character is quicker 
to write than two light characters. 

As the Pernin and the Gregg systems lack these two im- 
portant features for reducing the shorthand, it is evident 
that they cannot record words as fast as the Bellamy System 
can unless they have other features to make up for the ones 
that they lack. In the matter of other features to be con- 
sidered: aside from not using shaded characters the Pernin 
and the Gregg systems do not include all possible light char- 
acters; they do not have the quick and ready methods of 
phrasing the common words of the language; and they have 
no advantages over the Bellamy System in the methods of 
abbreviating. So it is apparent that the Pernin and the 
Gregg and other light-line systems, owing to their lack of 
the necessary expedients, are limited to a slow rate of speed 
in recording words. They may be easy to learn, though not 
necessarily, but they are not easy to learn to write fast, for 
there are no ways by which they can attain the necessary 
brevity of outline to permit of words being recorded as fast 
as spoken. It is most difficult, almost impossible, to attain 
a verbatim rate of speed with any light-line system of short- 
hand. 

We will take into consideration the other class of systems 
— the systems that have unconnecting signs for the vowel 
sounds. We explained above how the vowels may be written 
by disconnected signs, showing how the word cap is written 
in the Pitman System. The principal systems that have 



22 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

unconnecting signs for the vowels are the Pitmanic systems. 
By "Pitmanic" is meant founded on or resembling the short- 
hand system of Sir Isaac Pitman. Of the Pitmanic systems 
the best known are the Isaac Pitman, the Benn Pitman, the 
Graham and the Munson; there are others less well known. 
Besides having detached signs for the vowels all the Pitmanic 
systems have the following features in common: 1, same 
alphabet, practically; 2, shading; 3, writing in three positions. 
They differ in only a few minor details of the alphabet such 
as the characters used for some sounds but they are so nearly 
alike that there is practically no difference in speed or ease 
of learning in favor of any one of the group. When we use 
the word "Pitman" we refer to the Isaac Pitman System, 
though it might just as well apply to any other one. 

We will compare the Pitman System with the Bellamy 
System with a view to finding their relative advantages for 
speed and ease of learning. For that purpose we will take 
into consideration the number of characters comprising the 
alphabet in each system, and the sounds represented by 
the characters, and the expedients they make use of, and 
the rules for writing, etc. 

The chief difference between the two systems is the method 
of writing the vowel sounds. In the Bellamy System all 
seventeen vowel sounds (see page 3) are represented by 
circles, semicircles and curved lines which are written in 
the outline of the word without lifting the pen. In the 
Pitman System these seventeen vowel sounds are represented 
by marks which are written disconnected from the consonant 
outline, twelve of them in special locations with relation to 
the consonant characters. In the Pitman System cap is 



written .\- and the words cape, keep, cop, cope, 

coop, cup, copy and occupy are w T ritten by the same con- 
sonant outline and the vowels are written afterwards. There 



is copy .l....\« , there is occupy - n -^- - 

Which method of writing vowels is easier to learn ? There 
is nothing difficult about either method. In the Pitman 
System the consonant outline is written and then the marks 
for the vowels, which are small or large dots, light or thick 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 23 

dashes or other marks as the case requires, are placed in 
their proper locations. 

Which is the quicker method of writing words — with the 
vowels written in the outlines or with the vowels detached 
from the outlines? It must be apparent to everybody that 
it is quicker to write vowels in the outline without taking 
off the pen than it is to write them separate from the outline. 
The method of recording words by writing the consonants 
and filling in the vowels is called the Correspondence Style 
of Pitman Phonography. The Pitman System written in 
the Correspondence Style is limited to a very low rate of 
speed, to about fifty words a minute, because it takes time to 
insert the marks for the vowels, one by one, each in its proper 
location. The Pitman writer to gain in speed omits the 
vowels and otherwise changes the consonant outlines, writing 
what is known as the Reporting Style. The faster he aims 
to write, the more vowels have to be omitted. We think that 
everybody would say that if the Bellamy System writes both 
consonants and vowels and the Pitman System writes con- 
sonants only, then outlines can be written quicker in the 
Pitman System. But does the writer of the Bellamy System 
have to write all the vowels, and can the Pitman writer leave 
them all out? Do all the consonants have to be written, 
and, if so, in which system are consonants written quicker? 

To answer these questions in detail is beyond the scope of 
this book. Moreover, we could not settle decisively which 
system is faster, and how much faster, by a mere considera- 
tion of these questions and answers. We should keep these 
questions in mind to aid us in reaching some conclusion. 
Besides the question of speed the time required to learn to 
write with speed is important. 

We make the claim that the Pitman System is harder — 
very much harder — to learn than the Bellamy System, and 
that there is very little, if any, difference between them in 
their speed of recording words. 

We will present evidence to show that these claims are 
reasonable. The Bellamy System uses all possible expedients 
for reducing the shorthand that can be included in a con- 
necting-vowel system. The Bellamy System, like the Pitman, 
makes use of all possible characters, light and shaded, in 
all lengths, though the characters are not used in both for 



24 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

the same sounds nor to the same extent. Both systems are 
written in three positions though the rules for writing above 
and below the line are not the same. Some words are quicker 
to write in the Pitman System and some words are quicker 
to write in the Bellamy System. 

We will show that a system in which the vowels are not 
written in the outlines of words is hard to learn to write fast. 
If we do prove that the Bellamy System is easier to learn, 
it does not mean that it is the better system to learn, for a 
writer may prefer to spend more time in learning a system 
provided in the end it could record words faster; so we 
should not lose sight of the question of speed. 

An unconnecting-vowel system cannot record words fast, 
faster than about fifty words a minute, unless the vowels 
are omitted. With the vowels omitted many words have 
the same consonant outline. There are nine words that 
have the consonant outline k-p. Many words have the 
same consonants, and you must have some way to distinguish 
between them in order to read the notes. If there is no way 
of expressing the omitted vowels or otherwise distinguishing 
between words of the same consonant outline, the vowels 
must be written — some of them at least — retarding speed. 

To diminish the necessity for writing vowels, outlines are 
written in the Pitman System in three positions to express 
omitted vowels. The seventeen vowels are divided into 
first-, second- and third-position vowels. There are five 
first-position vowels and five third-position vowels. The 
rule is to write a word in the position governed by its vowel, 
if there is more than one vowel, in the position governed by 
its principal, that is, accented vowel. For example, the 
word cap is written in the first position because the vowel 
a (short) is a first-position vowel and words in which a 
(short) is the only vowel or is the principal vowel, if there 
are more than one, are written in the first position, above 
the line. And so on with the other vowels. 

In the Bellamy System outlines are written above or below 
the line to indicate an omitted vowel at the beginning of 
the word. So when a writer, reading his notes, sees an out- 
line above the line he knows that a certain vowel is omitted 
at the beginning of the word. But in the Pitman System 
writing above, on, or below (through) the line is used to 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 25 

indicate one of a number of possible omitted vowels and the 
vowel omitted may be anywhere in the word. A Pitman 
writer reading his notes without vowels cannot tell from 
the position of an outline which vowel represented by that 
position is omitted nor whereabouts in the word the vowel 
is omitted, whether at the beginning, in the center or at 
the end, and he cannot tell how many other vowels besides 
the one represented by the position, are omitted. You cannot 
tell from the position which one of the vowels represented 
by that position is omitted, nor how many vowels in all 
are omitted, nor where any of the vowels are omitted, whether 
at the beginning, in the center or at the end of the word, 
unless you have kept in mind what words you are writing 
without vowels, or unless the consonant outline indicates 
the word, or unless the context shows what word is meant. 
You have got to omit the vowels to write fast, but you must 
learn to write and read outlines without vowels. 

Many Pitman writers claim that the vowels are not neces- 
sary because you can recognize the words from the consonant 
outlines with the aid of the context — the sense it makes. 
A great many words can be so recognized, others could not. 
Take the outline k-p — k-p in three positions cannot indi- 
cate the nine words that have this consonant outline. How 
many words have the consonant outline k-m? There is 
come, came, acme, cameo and others. How many words 
have the consonant outline b-t? How many the consonant 
outline r-1? Three positions cannot satisfactorily represent 
seventeen vowels. Many words have the same outline in 
the same position and you have got to remember what words 
are written without the vowels and what words require 
vowels, or depend on the context to read your notes. Any 
shorthand writer can rely on the context for aid; sometimes 
it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Where all the words are 
written without vowels the chances that the context will 
help are lessened. What does the Pitman writer do when he 
has a new or strange word to write? He may not hear the 
word distinctly and so fail to write the correct consonant 
outline ; if he does make out the consonants, he may hesitate 
in deciding which is the accented vowel and in which posi- 
tion to write the outline, he may not have time to write a 
single vowel sign or enough signs to distinguish the word, 



26 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

and then how can he read his notes ? The context may or 
may not help. No system of shorthand that leaves out the 
vowels can be made easy to learn to write fast; there are too 
many vowels. 

A writer of the Bellamy System, hearing a new or strange 
word, could make out the first or first two syllables and could 
begin the shorthand outline, writing the first or first two 
syllables, omitting the rest, and he would be much better 
able to read the word correctly than the Pitman writer could 
be from the consonant outline. It is easier to recognize 
a word from its first or first two syllables complete than from 
its consonant outline. 

We think that every one would say that the natural way 
to write shorthand is to write the sounds as they occur, as 
in long-hand, and we think that every one would say that 
a system in which the vowels are written in the outline is 
easier to learn and more legible than a system in which the 
vowels are omitted, because with the vowels omitted many 
words are written the same and you have to learn what 
words are written without the vowels and what words require 
the vowels, and you must not forget what the outlines with- 
out the vowels mean, or the notes will be illegible. In a 
system in which the vowels are written in the outline all this 
matter of distinguishing between words is not present because 
the vowels indicate the word. 

There are many words represented by the same consonant 
outline written in the same position in the Pitman System, 
and to distinguish between these words without writing the 
vowels the Pitman System makes use of writing the con- 
sonants in different ways, varying the outline to indicate 
an omitted vowel or vowels. This is possible in the Pitman 
System, since there are three ways of writing 1, three ways 
of writing r, two ways of writing s, two ways of writing z, 
four ways of writing w, four ways of writing h, three ways 
of writing y, two ways of writing sh, two ways of writing 
zh (as in vision), two ways of writing t, two ways of writing 
d, two ways of writing n, two ways of writing f , and two 
ways of writing v. 

What is the effect of having these extra ways of writing 
these common sounds on the speed and ease of learning 
of the system ? In many instances words are varied to have 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 27 

shorter consonant outlines, and as the different ways of 
writing the consonants do away with the necessity of writing 
vowels, there is a gain in speed. You could have as many 
ways of writing a sound or a number of sounds as there are 
characters available to use, but as there is a limited number 
of marks that can be used as shorthand characters, if we do 
not use each and every character to represent a different 
sound, the number of sounds represented by the characters 
of the alphabet is lessened. 

We will show that a system that has two or more ways 
of writing a sound is hard to learn. In the first place we 
will explain what is meant by varying the consonant outline 
to indicate the vowels: the sound of 1 is written in three 

different ways in the Pitman System, 1, I up, 2, ( 

down, 3, by the 1 hook. The word tell is written I , 

the word tale is written V and towel is written 



? 



The perpendicular stroke represents t and 1 is written in 
three ways — in tell 1 is written before t (in point of time) 
by the 1 hook. The 1 hook is joined to other consonants, 

bl \ , cl c — , dl I , etc. By varying the way of writing 
1 to express the different vowels, the signs for the vowels 
need not be written. Is it a good plan to have three ways 
of writing 1? It is harder to learn because you will have to 
remember which one of the three ways is written with each 
and every vowel, and when you read your notes you must 
remember which vowel is meant by each of the three different 
ways of writing 1. If the Pitman writer always wrote 1 by 
the 1 hook to represent -el, upwards to represent -al, and 
downwards to represent -oul or -ouel, then he would not 
need to write the detached vowel signs for these vowel sounds. 
But does the Pitman System always write 1 as in the three 
ways above to represent these vowel sounds ? In some cases 
a hook is not joined to a consonant character and in other 
cases a hook is not used to indicate 1, but in cases where 
there are three ways to write 1, exceptions are made. In 



28 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

the word tell 1 is written by the 1 hook, but in the word 
trellis the hook for 1 cannot be used; in the words yell, 
well, and many other words the 1 hook cannot be used. 
Now the rules for writing 1 differ in the different systems, 
but we are referring solely to the Isaac Pitman System. In 
the Isaac Pitman System we find that in the word bell 1 is 
written upwards, in mail 1 is written upwards, but in fail 
1 is written downwards, in cowl 1 is written upwards, in 
nail 1 is written downwards, in knell 1 is written downwards. 
So you see that there are exceptions and 1 is not always written 
by the 1 hook to represent -el, upwards to represent -al, 
etc. We cannot give all the exceptions, what we aim to 
show is that where there is a number of ways of writing a 
sound, the rules for using each method may have many 
exceptions. 

Among the many consonants written in more than one 
way in the Pitman System r is written in three ways, 1, 

*^ ,2, 1 , 3, by the r hook. We find in the text-books 
that there are many exceptions to the rules for the three 
methods of writing r. Sometimes r is written upwards and 
under like conditions where r is preceded or followed by 
the same vowel or consonant, exceptions are made. In the 
word lamb 1 is written upwards and in the word elm 1 is 
written downwards. In writing the word realm you might 
write rel and add m or you might write r and add elm. 
We do not say whether there would be any choice in writing 
the word realm, but we show what is liable to happen when 
you have more than one way of writing a sound. 

We do not say that wherever a consonant occurs it can be 
written in all the different ways. Many of the consonants 
are written in only one way at the beginning of a word. 
But you can see that the result of having all these consonants 
written in more than one way is that words containing any 
one of these consonants can be written in more than one 
way, and the more consonants a word contains, the more 
ways there are of writing its consonant outline. For example, 
take the word distill: you may write the four consonants; 
you may write d and write s by a circle (s is written by a 

small circle or by the character / ), write t and write 1 in 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 29 

one of two ways; you may write d, make a circle for s and 
write til by joining the 1 hook to t; you may write d and 
make a small loop for st and then add 1 in one of two ways; 
or you may write d and then write a character half the length 
of s to represent st, and then add 1. Take the word furnish: 
furnish can be written in a number of possible ways. We 
could add examples without end to show the multiplicity 
of ways of writing words in the Pitman System. 

You may say, " always choose the quickest way of writing 
a word; if the outline cannot be written readily in one way, 
choose another/ ' But if you always chose the quickest way 
of writing a consonant outline, then you would write all 
similar words in that same quickest way, and there would 
be no varying of the outline to indicate the vowels. If you 
took your choice in writing an outline, you could take your 
choice in supplying the vowels in reading the notes. You 
can see that where there are so many different ways of writing 
sounds, you must keep the different ways distinct in your 
mind, and until you have learned to do so you will not be 
prepared and able to write fast, you will be apt to hesitate 
in writing. 

Before a word can be written in shorthand the outline 
must be thought of. If you have choice of outlines, you 
will hesitate while making your choice. Choice means 
hesitation. The more ways you have to choose from, the 
more hesitation, until you have learned to write without 
choice, without hesitation. 

In the Bellamy System every sound except h and y is 
represented in but one way, and every combined sound is 
written by rule in one uniform way. The vowels are written 
in the outline and distinguish between similar words so that 
there is no varying of the outline to represent omitted vowels, 
and there is almost no choice of ways of writing an outline. 

In the Bellamy System there is Uniformity of writing; 
in the Pitman System there is Lack of Uniformity. 
Uniformity of writing means Ease of Learning; lack of 
uniformity means Difficulty. 

We will consider further the alphabet of the Pitman 
System. In the Pitman System the elementary consonant 
sounds are arranged in pairs, a light, soft sound being 
represented by a light character, and the cognate, heavy sound 



30 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

being represented by the corresponding shaded character, 

as p \, b \, fV^ vv., s /, z / , etc. The characters 
are all shortened to half lengths and lengthened. Halving 
a light consonant adds t and halving a shaded consonant 

adds d. To illustrate the halving principle : s is written ) , 

st is written ) , half the length of s, saw is written J , 

sought is written ) . Halving a character may represent 
the addition of t or d alone, as in the word apt, or it may 
represent the addition of t or d preceded by a vowel, as in 
the words pat, sought; the vowels may be written or omitted. 
Many exceptions are made; sometimes halving a light char- 
acter adds d and halving a shaded character adds t. The 
halving principle produces a gain in speed, but it adds greatly 
to the difficulty of learning, as there are many exceptions, 
and it allows a choice of methods of writing. There are 
many exceptions; sometimes the halving principle is not 
used and at other times it is. If you had a new word to write, 
especially a long word, you would be undecided whether 
to use the halving principle or not. 

The characters are also lengthened to represent combined 
sounds. Lengthening a character is done to add the syllable 
-ter, -ther, or -der, either preceded by a vowel or not. 

To illustrate the lengthening principle : 1 is written i , and 



when lengthened to / it could mean the following: 

latter, later, letter, lighter, etc., ladder, leader, etc., 
lather, leather, etc., or alter, elder, and older. The same 
outline cannot well represent the words latter, ladder, and 
lather, so wherever there would be doubt as to the meaning 
of the outline, the lengthening principle must be abandoned 
and exceptions made. Lengthening and doubling a straight 
character results in the same straight line; for example, 

if we lengthen b \ we get ^^ , and we could not 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 31 

tell whether it was lengthened to add -ter, as in the word 
batter, etc., or doubled to represent two b's, as in the word 
bob, etc. Lengthening and doubling a curved character are 



not the same, as 1 lengthened becomes / , but 1 doubled 

is f .So the lengthening principle should be applied 

only to curved characters, not to straight characters. We 
do find, however, that many exceptions are made. 

The lengthening principle adds to the choice of ways of 
writing a word in outline and adds greatly to the difficulty 
of learning the system. If you had a new word to write, 
you might be undecided whether to use the halving principle 
to add t or d, or to use the lengthening principle to add -ter 
or -der, or to use neither. Take the word unilateral: that 
word can be written by any one of a very large number of 
possible outlines. 

Sometimes the lengthening principle is used in writing a 
word, but in adding a syllable or in writing a similar word 
the lengthening principle is abandoned. The word matter 
is written by the lengthening principle, but for the word 
mattered a different way of writing the outline is used. 
The word flatter is written by the lengthening principle, 
but instead of writing flattery by adding i to flatter, the 
word flattery is written by a different consonant outline. 

Other examples of change of outline : till is written — C.~. 

by the 1 hook, but instead of writing tiller by adding r to 
till, tiller is written.. \/£T^\-, instead of adding i to race 



to form racy, racy is written by a different outline; make 
is written by the outline m-k, but instead of adding r to 
make to form the word maker, maker is written by adding 
k-r to m, and the r is written before k in point of time. This 
transposing the order of the consonants as in the word maker 
is liable to cause trouble in deciding where a vowel is to be 
placed and read. In the word tell the order of the consonants 
is transposed. 



32 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

Now by varying outlines in these numerous ways the vowel 
sounds are not needed, but you can see what a great deal 
there must be to learn. The reason why the Pitman System 
is hard to learn to write fast is because speed is obtained 
by omitting vowels and by varying the outlines of words. 
The beginner learns the Correspondence Style, but as that 
style of writing is limited to a slow speed, he discards the 
Correspondence Style for the Reporting Style, omitting the 
vowels and varying the outlines. All the Pitman systems 
go to practically the same extent in varying the outlines, 
all are equally hard to learn to write fast. The rules for 
writing the consonants are subject to so many exceptions 
and allow so much choice that the difficulty of choosing the 
proper one from among the various possible outlines causes 
so much embarrassment, retarding speed, and the necessity 
of remembering how certain words are distinguished from 
certain other words by differences of outline is so great a 
burden to the memory that the system can only be written 
rapidly and read correctly by those who can afford to give 
the necessary time to learn and can have the constant practice 
to keep the shorthand outlines fresh in their minds, lest 
they forget. 

After a writer has learned how a word is to be written, 
he will have no hesitation in writing that word unless he 
forgets, but whenever he meets a new word, which may be 
frequently or may not be, according to his experience, his 
speed will in all probability be retarded while he stops to 
think what is the proper outline to write and how many 
vowels can be left out, if any. 

By reducing the shorthand and leaving out the vowels 
the Pitman System obtains very short outlines for many 
words. Words are also reduced to short outlines in the 
Bellamy System. It would do very little good to compare 
outlines in the two systems, as we could not determine how 
many words are written faster in one system and how much 
faster. It is quicker to write consonants alone than to write 
both consonants and vowels, but how much quicker? 

In the Bellamy System the vowel sounds are all represented 
by circles, half circles and curved strokes that are all written 
quickly in the outlines, connecting the consonants. Vowels 
can be omitted when not necessary for the correct reading 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 33 

of the word, but, as a rule, they are not. If we decide to 
omit the vowel i (short), then in reading our notes we will 
supply the vowel i (short) as the missing vowel, provided 
we can tell whether there is really a vowel to be supplied 
or not, but that can be readily told. Other vowels can be 
omitted, especially when unaccented. Words are abbreviated 
by omitting their final syllables, and as they are thereby 
written quickly enough for all practical purposes, the omission 
of vowels is not practiced, not to any great extent. 

In considering the question of the speed possibilities of a 
system we should note how many shorthand characters are 
used and how many and what sounds are represented by the 
characters. We will show that a number of characters in 
the Pitman alphabet are written very infrequently or not 
at all. In the Pitman System the soft sound of th as in 

thin is written \ (light), and the hard sound of th as 

in then is written \ (shaded). Now there is no need 
to make any distinction in shorthand between these two 
sounds because words containing either sound can be readily 
distinguished if both sounds are written alike. Only one 
character is needed to represent both these sounds. The 
only words where the soft sound of th could possibly be 
mistaken for the hard sound of th (or vice versa) are thigh 
and thy, ether and either, sheath and sheathe, loath and 
loathe. Anybody writing shorthand could tell by the con- 
text which word of these pairs was indicated by the shorthand 
if the two sounds of th were written the same. There is 
no need to have any distinction between the two sounds of 
th because there are no words in which the two sounds of 
th would be confused. 

As the Pitman System uses two characters for th when 
but one is necessary, so two half-length characters and two 
double-length characters are used when but one half-length 
and but one double-length is needed. The double-length 
characters which represent the addition of the syllables -ter, 
-der or -ther to th are practically unused; the only word 
we can think of where the lengthening principle can be 
applied to th is thither. So the double-lengths of th are 



34 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

almost unused. Other double-length characters are infre- 
quently used. 1 
The sound of sh as in fish is written in two ways ~*S 

up and -S down (light), and the sound of zh as in vision 

is written in two ways, ^ up and *S down (shaded). 
There is no need in writing shorthand to make any distinction 
between these two sounds. The only words in the English 
language that would have the same outline if sh and zh 
are written the same, are assure and azure, leasher and 
leisure. Any one writing shorthand could tell from the 
context which word of these pairs was meant if only one 
character represented both sounds. You can have two 
characters for the sound of sh, just as you can have two ways 
of writing other sounds, in order to vary the way of writing 
sh to indicate the vowels. But the sound of sh is not very 
common, and when it comes to writing half-lengths and 
double-lengths for sh and zh, these characters are hardly 
used at all. The only words that can be represented by the 
double-lengths of sh and zh are shatter, shutter, shooter, 
shouter, shudder, and possibly a few others. 

The Pitman System uses four characters for the two 
sounds, sh and zh, when only one is really needed, and also 
four half-lengths and four double-lengths when only one 
half-length and only one double-length is needed. So here 
are nine characters in the Pitman System which are practi- 
cally unused. All these characters which are written very 
infrequently in the Pitman System are used to represent 
more common sounds in the Bellamy System. 

The alphabet in the Pitman System is founded on the 
alphabetical principle, that is, the consonant sounds are 
taken to be represented by shorthand characters. The alpha- 
bet in the Bellamy System is founded on the stenographic 
principle, that is, the shorthand characters are all taken 
and each used to represent a different sound. 

If the Bellamy System uses each character to represent 
a different sound and uses the characters for the most com- 
mon sounds, while the Pitman System does not use each 
character for a different sound and uses many characters 
for sounds of infrequent occurrence, then the alphabet of 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 35 

the Bellamy System is more efficient for recording sounds, 
but, on the other hand, the Pitman System uses detached 
signs for the vowel sounds, which signs are not used to so 
great an extent in the Bellamy System. What we aim to 
show by this consideration of the comparative merits of the 
alphabets is that there is not much, if any, advantage in 
one alphabet over the other as a means for securing speed. 
We can prove little, however, by a mere comparison on paper. 

Another important feature to consider in determining the 
speed and ease of learning of a shorthand system is phrasing. 
Phrasing may be easy to learn if there are uniform rules 
and it may produce a considerable gain in speed if words 
that frequently occur together are joined in phrases. When 
we use the word " phrase' ' we mean a combination of words 
written in one continuous outline in shorthand or we may 
mean the shorthand outline or representation for these words, 
which latter should be more properly called a phraseogram. 
Of course, a stenographer can phrase as many words as he 
cares to, as there is practically no limit to the number of 
words that can be joined; but when uncommon words and 
words that rarely occur together are phrased, the gain in 
speed hardly pays for the burden put on the memory to 
remember such phrases. 

We make the claim that phrasing is a great deal easier 
to learn in the Bellamy System and that the majority of 
phrases composed of the common words of the language 
are written in quicker phrases (phraseograms) in the Bellamy 
System than in the Pitman System. The reason why phras- 
ing in the Pitman System is hard to learn is because words 
are varied in outline in phrases just as consonants are varied 
in outline in words. If, as in the Bellamy System, phrases 
are formed by joining words that are otherwise written 
separately, then there is but one way of writing a phrase, 
and the matter of learning to phrase is easy — simply join 
words that are to be phrased. But if, as in the Pitman 
System, phrases are formed sometimes by joining phrase-words 
in outline, and sometimes by writing these same phrase-words 
in a different way in other phrases, then it becomes a 
difficult matter to learn how phrases are formed. 

In the Pitman System we find that some common w T ords 
are not phrased and that many words are written in different 



36 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

ways in different phrases. To show examples: the words 
no and any are both written in the Pitman System by the 
character for n as n is the only consonant in these two words. 
If these words should be joined in a phrase they would both 
be written the same — by the character for n which would 
be in the position of the phrase, and so you could not tell 
whether the word meant was no or any. These words are 
distinguished by being written in different positions when 
standing alone. These two words cannot be phrased unless 
additional marks for the vowels are used to distinguish 
them; one word only, whichever one is decided upon, could 
be phrased. Take the words this, these and those in the 
Pitman System: these words are written by the same word- 
sign placed in different positions; s in this and z in these 
are represented in the three words by the small circle for 
s and z, and this small circle is written practically the same 
for both sounds. So these three words cannot be phrased 
unless marks for the vowels are written. 

To show examples where words are varied in phrases: 

the word not is written «. When the word not occurs 

in a phrase sometimes this sign is written and sometimes 
not is expressed by halving the preceding outline (last char- 
acter) and adding the n hook as in the phrase do not, and 
sometimes not is expressed by writing the n hook as in the 
phrase did not. The word have is written by the v stroke 
in the phrase I have, but in the phrase which have the v 
hook is used to express the word have. The word it may 
be joined in a phrase by writing the word-sign for it and 
sometimes it is expressed by halving the preceding character 
according to the halving principle. There and their are 
represented by a word-sign which is written in some phrases 
but in other phrases their, there are expressed by lengthen- 
ing the preceding character according to the lengthening 
principle. Will in some phrases is written by the word-sign 
and in other phrases the 1 hook represents will. All is 
expressed by the word-sign for all and sometimes the 1 hook 
is used. Own is expressed by the word-sign for own and 
sometimes the n hook is used, as in the phrase her own. 
Us is represented by the word-sign for us and also by writing 
the circle for s to represent us. Were is written in two ways 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 37 

in phrases. The words as we are sometimes represented 
by a large circle, as in the phrase as we have, but in the 
phrase as we would the large circle for as we cannot be 
used because the word would is written by a small half- 
circle to which a large circle cannot be joined in outline. The 
commonest word of the language, the, is written in three ways. 

We have mentioned these instances to show that words 
are written in different ways in different phrases. We do 
not show how many times a word is phrased in one way or 
another. Some words may be phrased in one uniform way 
with perhaps one or two exceptions. But you can see what 
a great deal there is to learn when so many common words 
are varied in phrases. 

We have referred to the Isaac Pitman System in the above, 
but phrase-words are varied as much or more in all the other 
Pitmanic systems. The whole subject of phrasing is in a 
most complicated, unscientific state in all the Pitmanic 
systems. They do not have any tables showing examples 
of how the phrases are to be written, and you literally have 
to learn the phrases one by one. Now if it were simply a 
question of joining words to form a phrase or of writing them 
separately the matter of learning phrasing would be easy, 
but a phrase-word is sometimes written in a phrase in one 
way and that same phrase-word is written in another phrase 
in a different way. This having two ways of writing these 
common words imposes a tax on the memory to keep the 
different ways of writing distinct in the mind, and it is a 
great obstacle to rapid, automatic writing, as you will hesi- 
tate while deciding which way of forming a phrase is to be 
used. A stenographer is meeting new combinations of 
phrase-words all the time, just as he is meeting new words. 

There is lack of uniformity in writing phrases in the Pit- 
man System. In the Bellamy System the common phrase- 
words are written in but one way and join in phrases in one 
way with very few exceptions. 

You may think that this matter of varying words in phrases 
is only meant for an expert writer to increase speed, but such 
is not the case. In the very early lessons in the Pitman text- 
books words are varied. In an early lesson we find the phrase 
I am surprised written in a phraseogram. We do not learn 
whether the word surprised is always joined to the preceding 



38 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

word, or whether the following word is joined to the phrase 
I am, or whether similar words are joined, such as the phrases 
I am surpassed, I am certain, etc. If the word surprised 
is joined, how many other words are joined? We mention 
the phrase I am surprised to show that phrases are presented 
in isolated instances to be learned one by one. There seems 
to be no end to the number of phrases in the Pitman System. 
Words are phrased that do not occur together frequently 
and that do not serve as examples for other phrases. 

By varying the methods of writing phrase-words in phrase- 
ograms the phraseograms are shortened, but that does not 
mean, as words occur, that more phrases are quicker to 
write in the Pitman System than in the Bellamy System. 
The common phrase-words are all represented in the Bellamy 
System by shortest signs and are arranged so as to be joined 
in phrases, and phrases are quick to write. Take the phrase 
I have been: that phrase is written in the Pitman System 



V 



. and in the Bellamy System I have been is written 



— -^« . If the phrase I have been is quicker, the chances 
are that other phrases containing all these words or any two 
of them are written quicker. It is a great advantage to speed 
to have all common words written by shortest word-signs 
which can be joined in phraseograms. 

We stated that we would prove that the Pitman System 
was harder to learn than the Bellamy System. We have 
presented enough evidence, we think, to prove this claim 
without doubt. We repeat that the reason the Pitman System 
is hard to learn is because the vowels are omitted and there 
are not adequate rules to show what the outlines without 
vowels mean. We stated that words could not be written 
faster than about fifty a minute if the vowels are written, 
and that in order to write faster than fifty words a minute 
the vowels must be omitted; and we showed that the omission 
of vowels is indicated by writing outlines in three positions 
with relation to the line and also by varying the outlines, 
using different characters for the different consonants to 
indicate omitted vowels. We showed that the rules for 
writing the consonants are not uniform but are subject to 
many exceptions, causing choice of methods of writing. 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 39 

There is so much choice of ways of writing among teachers 
and stenographers of the Pitman System that one writer 
may adopt one outline and another may adopt a different 
outline, hence one stenographer cannot read another's notes, 
and in fact cannot readily read his own notes, else why is 
it considered such an accomplishment to be able to read 
one's notes when they are cold ? 

The Pitman System written in the Correspondence Style, 
in which the marks for the vowels are written and no varying 
of the consonants is used, is easy to learn but limited to a 
slow rate of speed. As soon as the Pitman writer starts 
to omit the vowels the difficulty of learning begins. 

All shorthand writers admit that a system in which the 
vowels are written in the outlines is easier to learn than 
a system which leaves out the vowels. Vowels written in 
outlines leave no doubt as to the meaning of the outlines, 
unless the shorthand is badly written. As the vowels are 
written there is no varying of consonants to indicate omitted 
vowels (all the connecting-vowel systems have but one way 
of writing a consonant sound with very few exceptions), 
hence it is easy to learn how outlines for words are formed 
in the connecting-vowel systems. 

Since the connecting-vowel systems are easier to learn than 
the Pitman System, if you studied a connecting-vowel system 
you could learn how to write words sooner and you could 
acquire as fast a rate of speed as the connecting-vowel system 
is capable of attaining sooner than you could acquire the 
same rate of speed in the Pitman System. For instance, 
if a connecting-vowel system is brief enough to record words 
at the rate of 100 a minute, you could by studying that system 
acquire that rate of speed sooner than you could by studying 
the Pitman System, and if a connecting-vowel system is 
brief enough to record words at a verbatim rate, you could 
by studying that system acquire a verbatim rate sooner than 
you could by studying the Pitman System, for, as we have 
shown, the Pitman System is harder to learn to write faster 
than a rate of about fifty words a minute. 

After you have learned a system your speed of writing 
will be proportionate to the brevity of the shorthand out- 
lines. The trouble with the connecting-vowel systems, the 
Pernin and the Gregg, is that they lack essentials for reducing 



40 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

the shorthand and cannot be made brief enough to attain 
a verbatim speed. The Pernin and the Gregg are light-line 
systems and are written in but one position. Though they 
are easy to learn they are not easy to learn to write fast. 
No matter how much practice in writing you have and how 
much you abbreviate you cannot get the necessary brevity 
of outline to acquire a verbatim speed with either the Pernin 
or the Gregg System. 

The authors of the connecting-vowel systems claimed that 
shading and position writing detract from the speed of a 
shorthand system and that the Pitman System is slow for 
those reasons; but they missed the point. The Pitman 
System is slow until it is learned, but in the end it is quicker 
than the Pernin or the Gregg because its outlines are briefer. 

If a shorthand system could be constructed having the 
advantage of legibility afforded by connecting-vowel signs 
and at the same time could be made as brief in outline as 
the Pitman System minus the vowels is made, that system 
would be far better to learn. It would be as fast as the 
Pitman System and it would be easier to learn. 

We claim that the Bellamy System can attain as high a 
rate of speed as the Pitman System. We have shown the 
principles of construction of both systems in the preceding 
pages. We will endeavor to show by comparing the expe- 
dients used for speed that the Bellamy System can be made 
as brief in outline as the Pitman System can be made. 



BELLAMY PITMAN 

1. All possible geometrical 1. All possible geometrical 
signs, straight lines, circles, signs, straight lines, circles, 
arcs of circles, etc., light and arcs of circles, etc., light and 
shaded, are used as characters shaded, are used as characters 
to represent sounds. to represent sounds. 

2. Vowel sounds are repre- 2. Vowel sounds are repre- 
sented by circles, half-circles, sented by dots, dashes, and 
and curved lines which join the other marks which are written 
consonants without lifting the detached from the consonant 
pen. characters. 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 



41 



3. Every character represents 
a different sound with two ex- 
ceptions, h and y are each 
represented in two ways (by 
two characters). 



3. Every character does not 
represent a different sound. 
There are four ways of writing 
h and four ways of writing w, 
three ways of writing y, three 
ways of writing 1, and three 
ways of writing r, two ways of 
writing each of the following: 
s, z, f, v, n, t, d, sh and zh. 



4. All the characters are used, 
as far as possible, to represent 
the sounds and combinations 
of sounds that occur most 
frequently. Good selection of 
sounds represented by the char- 
acters. 



4. Many characters represent 
sounds of infrequent occurrence. 
There are two characters, one 
for each sound of th — only one 
is necessary; two characters are 
used for the sound of zh (as 
in vision) — none is necessary 
as sh and zh can be represented 
by one and the same character. 
Many double-length characters 
represent sounds that occur very 
rarely. 



5. Writes in three positions. 
Positions above and below the 
line indicate the omission of a 
certain vowel at the beginning 
of a word. 



5. Writes in three positions. 
Each position indicates the 
omission of any one of a certain 
number (five) of vowels and the 
omitted vowel may be anywhere 
in the word. 



6. Uses dashes and other 
marks placed in special loca- 
tions with relation to an out- 
line to represent prefixes and 
suffixes. 



6. Uses dashes and other 
marks placed in special loca- 
tions with relation to an out- 
line to represent prefixes and 
suffixes. 



7. Words are abbreviated by 
omitting the final syllables, 
writing only enough shorthand 
to distinguish the word. 



7. Words are abbreviated by 
omitting the vowels, by omitting 
final consonants and by other- 
wise contracting the consonant 
outlines. 



8. The common phrase-words 
are all represented by the 
shortest, most quickly written 
word-signs which are all joinable 
in phrases, making phrases quick 
to write. 



8. The common phrase- words 
are represented, as a rule, by 
shortest word-signs; some, how- 
ever, are not represented by 
single marks; some phrase- words 
cannot be joined in phrases but 
must be written separately. 



42 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

It is seen from this comparison that the Bellamy System 
uses as many expedients for speed as the Pitman System 
uses. We will consider which system uses the expedients to the 
greater extent and to the better advantage for obtaining speed. 

We have shown how vowels are omitted and how their 
omission is indicated in the Pitman System. If a system 
leaves out the vowels there is less to write, and such a system 
would of course be faster than a system that writes the 
vowels, other things being equal. Vowels are omitted in the 
Bellamy System. The vowel a (short) is omitted at the 
beginning of a word and the vowel o (long and short) is 
also omitted. Other initial vowels may be omitted and their 
omission shown by writing above or below the line provided 
no mistaking the omitted vowel could arise, and the system 
would not be made as hard to learn as the Pitman. Besides 
initial vowels, medial and final vow T els may be omitted if 
their presence is not required for the correct reading of the 
notes. We would say that outlines are shortened to a con- 
siderable extent in the Bellamy System by omitting vowels. 
Some words require vowels in the Pitman System to distin- 
guish them from similar words, and the Pitman WTiter must 
write the vowels (some of them) in new and strange w r ords. 
It would do little good to find what is the proportion of 
omitted vowels in the two systems; besides there are other 
ways of abbreviating besides omitting vowels. 

In which system are consonants written quicker? There 
are practically the same number of characters in the alpha- 
bets in both systems and the characters used are the same 
marks. As the Bellamy System uses the characters for both 
consonants and vowels w T hereas the Pitman System uses 
separate marks for the vowels, there are more characters 
to use for consonants in the Pitman System. That does 
not mean, however, that more sounds are represented by 
the characters, for the Pitman System has two or more 
characters representing one sound in many instances. The 
Bellamy System uses every character for a different sound 
(with two exceptions) so that some sounds must be repre- 
sented by one character in the Bellamy System which require 
more than one character in the Pitman System. The Pitman 
System may write those sounds for which it has extra char- 
acters faster than they are written in the Bellamy System, 



SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 43 

but, on the other hand, many characters in the Pitman 
System represent sounds that rarely occur, and these char- 
acters may represent more frequently occurring sounds in 
the Bellamy System. 

The Pitman System uses dots, dashes and other marks 
placed in special locations to represent vowels. The Pitman 
System uses some of these marks also to represent prefixes 
and suffixes. These same marks placed in special locations are 
used in the Bellamy System to represent prefixes and suffixes. 

By abbreviating words by leaving out the vowels and by 
having shortest, quickest characters for consonant sounds, 
words are reduced to very short outlines in the Pitman 
System. Also the consonant outline may be abbreviated 
or contracted. By abbreviating words in the Bellamy System 
by leaving out initial vowels and by having many sounds 
and combinations of sounds written by single characters 
and by having the vowels joined quickly to the consonants, 
the first or first two syllables of a word, enough to identify 
the word, are written quickly and the rest of the word may 
be omitted, and words are reduced to short outlines. 

The commonest words of the language, which may be 
called phrase-words, are represented by shortest signs in the 
Bellamy System, and these signs are readily joined in phrases 
and phrases composed of these commonest words are as 
quick or quicker to write in the Bellamy System. 

We stated that the Bellamy System uses as many expedi- 
ents as the Pitman System uses and that to determine the 
question of the relative speed of the two systems we would 
have to find which system uses the expedients to the better 
advantage. From a review of the comparison we have made 
we think it is fair to conclude that the Bellamy System uses 
the expedients, as a whole, to as good advantage for obtain- 
ing speed as the Pitman System does, and that the Bellamy 
System can be made as brief in outline as the Pitman System 
can be made, and that there is not much, if any, advantage 
in favor of either system as far as speed is concerned. 

The Bellamy System can record words at a speed of 160 
a minute, and as it is easier to learn than the Pitman System, 
that rate of speed is attained sooner; hence the Bellamy System 
is the better system to learn. 

We claim that the Bellamy System is the easiest system 



44 SHORTHAND CONSTRUCTION 

to learn to write fast. We base our claim for this statement 
on the following facts: 1. Has the most complete alphabet, 
using all possible shorthand characters, each one to represent 
a different sound. Having a complete alphabet means 
Speed. By using every possible character to represent a 
different sound, many sounds and combinations of sounds 
are written in one stroke of the pen which in other systems 
require more than one stroke of the pen. 2. Makes use of 
shading. Shading the characters means Speed. By using 
shaded characters the number of sounds represented by 
the shorthand alphabet is doubled, hence many sounds 
and combinations of sounds are written in one shaded char- 
acter which must be written in more than one light character 
in a system which uses only light characters. A shaded 
character is quicker to write than two light characters. All 
systems that do not use shading lack a valuable expedient 
for speed. 3. All the vowels are represented by short, quickly 
written marks which connect the consonants without taking 
off the pen. Writing vowels in the outlines of words 
means Legibility and Ease of Learning. All systems 
that do not use connecting signs for the vowels are hard to 
learn to write fast because detached marks for the vowels are 
slow to write and must be omitted in fast writing, and when 
the vowels are omitted there are not adequate rules to show 
what the missing vowels are and where they are located. 

4. Writes in three positions with relation to the line of writing. 
Writing in three positions means Speed. By writing above 
or below the line to represent omitted sounds a gain in speed 
is obtained by saving the time of writing the omitted sound, 
and the loss in speed occasioned by shifting the hand 
is practically nothing. All systems that are written in 
only one position lack a valuable expedient for speed. 

5. Has the best system of phrasing. All the commonest 
words of the language are represented by shortest signs 
which can all be joined in phrases without taking off the 
pen. As these common words, about one hundred in number, 
are written as often as all the rest of the words of the language, 
a great gain in speed is obtained by having them represented 
by short signs which can be joined in phrases. 



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